Gift Ideas for Gardeners

The holiday season is always joyful and exciting but as we all know, it can also be stressful. Trying to come up with that perfect gift for everyone on your list can certainly add to the stress. But if you happen to have a ‘green-thumb type’ on your list, I think I can help.

Gardeners are actually very easy to buy for. Really. Think about it this way. If we’re not in our gardens, we’re thinking about our gardens. With that simple thought in mind gift ideas are easy.

Let me start with one obvious fact. A gardener can never have too many plants. So at the top of my list every year is a gift certificate to a local nursery, garden center or a mail-order company, such as Park Seed, Wayside Gardens or White Flower Farms. The wonderful thing about a gift certificate is that it takes away all the guilt of spending money on plants.

Another important fact is that we cannot garden without tools. A person can certainly get by with basic spades, trowels, pruners, rakes, hoes and forks, but there is something wonderful about the feel of a quality tool. Our local garden centers have a nice selection or look online at places like Smith & Hawkin or Lee Valley Tools. Check out these ergonomic hand tools.

There’s no question that gardening is hard on hands. Good garden gloves are always appreciated. Choose gloves that fit well and that are flexible yet sturdy. Also very much appreciated are hand care products to revive those abused hands. Crabtree and Evelyn make a variety of hand care products for gardeners. My favorite is the pumice scrub. You might also consider a microwavable hot pack to ease those sore muscles.

By the time winter arrives, we gardeners are already planning what we want to do with our gardens the following spring. Garden books and magazines help us feed our habit and provide creative ideas. Books are plentiful on a variety of garden subjects. Choose one that matches the interests of the gardener you are buying for. For example, shade gardening or herb culture. Books on garden design with large colorful pictures and good plant details are always fun. There are several good garden magazines to choose from. My personal favorite is Fine Gardening.

For those gardeners who also enjoy wildlife, you might consider birdfeeders, bird baths or whimsical bird houses.

Stocking stuffers can run the gamut from plant food spikes to seeds to plant markers to garden ornaments.

And finally if you want to spend a bit more, you might consider garden carts, garden benches or a Mantis rototiller.

Did I not say that gardeners were easy to buy for?